Wednesday, May 27, 2015

For those of you who hadn't heard, complications from pre-eclampsia caused me to get really sick and required my baby girl to be delivered early. I was in the hospital for five days and have been home for one.
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They sprung me, today! (Actually, it was yesterday, but I'm not currently capable of doing anything on time, soooo...).

Five days post-partum is only a day longer than a typical c-section stay, and doesn't even beat my personal best (8 days), but I can tell you, these brief, five days have been tough. Having our Ladygirl born at 34 weeks gestation and me getting so sick derailed all of our plans and threw our family into a tailspin. When I think of the outpouring of help, love, and support we've received, I wish I had the time to come find each of you individually and kiss you all over your faces, until you feel sufficiently thanked (as rated by my overactive, post-partum love-o-meter, patent pending).

Since I don't, you'll have to settle for this little note of heartfelt thanks, instead:

Thank you for each call, text, email, gift, hug, snuggle, and hand squeeze. Thank you for the visits. Thank you for "dropping in" at the cost of a 5+ hour road trip. One way. Thank you for the rides, the meals, the babysitting, and the prayers. Thank you for the sincere assurances that I was radiant, even when photographic evidence proved that I looked like the exact opposite--a hormone addled, sleep deprived, insane person. Thank you for crying with me. Thank you for making me laugh until my incision ached. Thank you for all the congratulations, oohing, and ahhhing over the three (!) people I get to call family. I love them so much and it feels like you do, too. And most of all, thank you for the chocolate milkshakes; including the one the doctors heartlessly took away, the one I hadn't yet started to drink, the one they wouldn't even let me TASTE, because surgery.

Our birth story won't be complete until Lady is home with us. She's got the herculean task of figuring out how to take all of her nutrition by mouth and gaining weight at the same time, which is no small feat for a preemie. But she's shown herself to be as much of a fighter as her brother was in the same set of circumstances. I have no doubt that she's going to be home, very soon, so I pray in expectation of it every day. Will you join me?

To each of you who helped us carry our burden, you know who you are. Thank you for blessing us, more than I can say or repay.